Red's over-rated
by Fantasia101
Summary: The wizarding war is over. Harry has won. But is he really free? Always bound by expectations, Harry has never really lived. Even after the war, the boy-who-lived has an image, a path pre-laid for him, which he can't simply ignore. Or can he?


_**Disclaimer:**_ _All characters belong to JKR, I'm just borrowing them, etc, etc,..No profits, blah, blah…_

 _ **A/N:**_ _So, the other stories I've been working on are supposed to be really long. And it takes a lot of effort to keep going. But, I wanted to do something a bit shorter. So, here it is. This is going to have a maximum of 10 chapters, I hope. I absolutely hated the epilogue. So, I'm going to pretend that it never happened. And I didn't kill off many characters that originally died in the final battle. Like Tonks and Lupin and Fred. And this is unabashedly a bash fic. I'm going to have fun with this one and hope you do too!_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Get the hell out!**

Harry Potter looked at his red-headed girlfriend in disbelief. He could not believe that this was the girl he had fallen in love with. Or was it really love? He felt confused and bewildered. On top of his already complicated feelings, now this. He realized that she was still talking and concentrated on her words. Not that it was going to change anything.

"…know it meant nothing. I was just lonely and missing you. He comforted me. It just happened."

Her eyes were brimming with tears and her lower lip trembled. It was an expression which would have made Harry do anything before. But now, he just watched her, studied her as if he was looking her over for every fault she had. Ginny looked at him expectantly as if she was waiting for him to tell her that everything was alright and that they would just forget this episode. But Harry had decided the exact opposite just moments before.

For the past month, he was having second thoughts about his relationship with Ginny. True, he had loved her. But that was just it. He 'had' loved. He did not feel the same when he had come back after the war. He had felt so guilty about agreeing to get back together with her immediately after the final battle. He realized he should have taken some time before deciding anything. But after it was all over, the next few days had passed in a blur. Fred was the only Weasley who had been grievously injured but had luckily recovered, while Percy had lost a leg. The others had escaped unscathed and the red-heads had all but huddled together as a family with relief. Hermione had gone the next day to search for her parents. Remus had left to beg forgiveness from his wife the minute he was out of the hospital because he had actually stupefied and fed her a powerful sleeping potion to keep her away from the battle. It had worked but had made her so angry that she took her son and went to live with her mother, but not before checking that Remus was not hurt much and would live.

So, that left Harry alone or as alone as he could get. He had tried to help with rebuilding and stuff but he was more of a hindrance than help because of all the attention he got. Lots of people turned up just to see him which made everything increasingly awkward for him so he decided to hide for a while. Molly would not hear of his plan to lay low in Grimmauld, so off to the Burrow he went.

Cooped up inside with all the Weasleys was an emotional experience for him after being on the run for almost a year. And then Ginny wanted to get back together with him. Honestly, as if he had another choice. It was blatantly obvious that most of her family were giving them some alone time to work out things between them. And then the expectant looks from Molly and the pointed teasing from Ron. Even the Twins made funny 'big-brother talks'. He felt confused at first because he was supposed to be happy. This was what he had wanted. But he almost felt sort of detached. He had decided that it was just everything catching up to him and cheerfully dived into the chaos of the Weasley family.

But two months later, here he was, at the end of his tether. Molly was driving him up the wall with her constant mothering and Ron was being more than his usual lazy self. Harry worried that if Ron kept up his eating and sleeping habits at the same rate, he would become a fatter version of Vernon and that was actually a nearly impossible feat. And now he had discovered what Ginny had been up to behind his back.

"Harry, trust me. It was nothing compared to what we have."

"Well, what exactly do we have, Ginny?" Harry calmly asked as his decision had been already made. He knew he didn't love her anymore. He realized he had just been procrastinating because he was worried about her family's reaction. He considered them his family as well and he didn't want his relationship with them to suffer. But this was the right decision .He was going to end this.

"What?" Ginny was flabbergasted.

"I asked you what exactly do we have between us?"

"We..we are..umm..we are going to get married."

Harry blinked. Now, that was not what he was expecting. Where the hell did marriage come from?

"I..what?"

"We are getting married." Ginny repeated with conviction.

Harry realized that he was getting side-tracked. He should stay on the issue and be precise, he told himself. "Then pray tell, what were you doing with McLaggen?"

Ginny frowned. Had Harry not been listening to her at all? Was he still talking about that?

"I told you. I missed you and I was scared. He was there. There's nothing more to it."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed for patience. That did not make any sense at all.

"Ginny, I don't care you got together with him last year at school. We had already broken up then. What I care about is that you have been seeing him till now." Ginny looked at him blankly and Harry sighed. "You wanted to be my girlfriend. That meant you should have broken up with McLaggen before you jumped into a relationship with me. But, you have been hooking up with him all the time you have been with me. Do you see my problem now?"

Ginny just waved it away. "Oh, I was going to break up with him. He was just having a bad time and I just wanted to wait a bit longer so he can get better."

"Well, didn't you think I deserved to know that? I had to find out from somebody else."

"Ya, about that. Who told you? I didn't know you were meeting anyone except Neville." Ginny was absolutely sure that Neville would never have ratted her out. Unfortunate for her was the fact that Neville considered Harry more a friend than anyone else. And he was extremely loyal to boot. He hadn't exactly come out and informed Harry of everything Ginny was guilty of but he had dropped enough hints for Harry to realize that Ginny was having an affair behind his back, with Cormac McLaggen, of all people.

"That's not the point." Harry breathed deeply. "Ginny, I don't think this is working."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. It's really crowded in here, you know. I thought that may be after Bill and the Twins left, we would have a bit more privacy. But, there are still too many people here and I don't think I want to go to Grimmauld. That place gives me the creeps. We should look if you have some other property that we can live in, you know?"

"Wha..I..No. No, Ginny, I meant us. I think we should break up."

"What? Don't be silly, Harry." Ginny swatted him as if he had said something absolutely ridiculous.

"No, Ginny. I mean it. I want to break up."

"Why?"

"You can think of no reason why I would want to break up with you?"

"Are you still talking about Cormac? Oh, Harry, How many times do I have to tell you.."

"Just stop. This is not just about that. I have been thinking about this for a while now. I don't think we are suited for each other. We want different things.."

"That's stupid. We are made for each other. Everybody knows that."

Harry realized then that no matter what he said, Ginny was not going to accept it. He would just have to show her that he meant it.

"Sorry, Ginny. I have to go." He quickly got up and made his way inside.

* * *

He went to the room where he had been staying with Ron and started packing up his things. He got all his stuff and went back downstairs to find Ginny sitting at the kitchen table frowning.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Leaving. I figure it's time. Also, I am serious about ending this."

"Are you out of your mind? Why would you want to.." Ginny started screaming but that was as far as she got before Molly and Ron came around.

"What is it dear? Why are you upset?" she asked Ginny, who immediately turned to her mother.

"Mum, there's something wrong with Harry. He says he wants to leave."

"What? Why?" asked Ron.

"I think it's something I have to do."

"But where would you go? Back to the Dursleys?"

"What? No! I'm going to Grimmauld Place."

"Absolutely not. That house is not fit for anyone. Besides, Ginny was telling me she hates it there, Harry dear." said Molly.

"So? I'm going to be living there. Not Ginny. Besides Kreacher and Dobby have been cleaning. I'm sure it will be fine."

"But why would you want to go there when you can stay at the Burrow?" Ron asked.

Harry wondered if he was being purposefully oblivious. He was reaching the end of his patience and he just wanted to get out of there at this point.

"Oh, I don't know, Ron. May be I want to have my own place?" he sarcastically snapped.

Molly looked confused. "But I thought you and Ginny were going to look for other houses you might own so that you can move there after the wedding."

That was it for Harry. "There is going to be no wedding. I am not looking for any other house. Ginny and I broke up. And now, I will be leaving." So saying, he quickly walked out of the house and rushed outside the wards so he could apparate. He could hear the ruckus his words had caused but he did not stop. Ginny's voice was shrill as she literally ran behind him screaming that he couldn't do this to her. He wondered for the first time if she was right in the head. Molly was ranting about all this being a big misunderstanding and about how she had already started to plan the wedding.

Harry dove outside the wards and apparated as fast as he could and landed on the front steps of the once headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He wondered if he had gotten the message across and decided he had done enough. It was up to Ginny now to come to terms with it. He made a note to visit the twins and winced when he thought about how to break the news to them. But first, he was going to look at his future home and talk to his elves.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _And that's the first chapter done! Let me know what you think!_

 _Also, I still haven't made up my mind about who to pair Harry up with. So, if any of you have a character in mind that should be Harry's better half, drop in a word in the review section! Adios!_


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